WMT - Walmart Inc.
115.20 -0.37 (-0.32%)
Pre-Market: 9:04AM EST
| Previous Close | 114.96 |
| Open | 114.59 |
| Bid | 115.31 x 800 |
| Ask | 115.85 x 800 |
| Day's Range | 114.51 - 115.69 |
| 52 Week Range | 93.11 - 125.38 |
| Volume | 6,696,831 |
| Avg. Volume | 5,287,656 |
| Market Cap | 327.95B |
| Beta (5Y Monthly) | 0.37 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | 23.12 |
| EPS (TTM) | 5.00 |
| Earnings Date | Feb 17, 2020 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | 2.12 (1.84%) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | Dec 03, 2019 |
| 1y Target Est | 130.48 |
- Yahoo Finance Video
Fiat Chrysler, Wingstop, Amazon: Companies to Watch
Fiat Chrysler, Wingstop, Amazon and companies to watch.
- Reuters
To train more workers, companies turn to virtual reality
The future of employee training involves no embarrassing role-playing in front of new colleagues or boring web modules which take an hour each to click through. For the next wave in workplace learning, get ready to strap on a pair of virtual reality goggles. It is not exactly magic, it is not exactly science, but it is working well enough for companies as far-flung as Walmart, Fidelity Investments, and Accenture.
- Bloomberg
Sainsbury Badly Needs Vision to Combat Amazon and Aldi
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Almost a year since competition authorities dealt a mortal blow to J Sainsbury Plc’s $9.1 billion plan to buy Walmart Inc.’s Asda, Mike Coupe is stepping down as chief executive officer of Britain’s second-largest supermarket chain. He’s been at the helm for almost six years and will be 60 in September, so it’s a natural time to hang up his grocer’s apron.But Coupe’s departure looked inevitable once the Asda combination collapsed. Whether or not Sainsbury mishandled the competition risks, for any CEO, grinding out growth in a sluggish market is far less exciting than pulling off an audacious deal.The choice of Simon Roberts, currently retail and operations director, to succeed him is a surprising one given that his most recent experience before Sainsbury wasn’t in food retail, and he’s a relatively new arrival at the group. Sainsbury’s former finance director, John Rogers, was widely seen as Coupe’s heir apparent, until he left for advertising company WPP Plc in October. This may explain his departure. Roberts, 48, is a hands-on shopkeeper. He spent 15 years at Marks & Spencer Group Plc and 13 years at Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. before joining Sainsbury two and half years ago. But the changes that Sainsbury has made to its stores since then haven’t always gone smoothly. A management overhaul in 2018 led to empty shelves and unkempt shops. In a fast-changing retail market, executives need to augment operational expertise with strategic vision. It’s not yet clear that Roberts has that.It’s interesting that Britain’s two biggest supermarkets, Tesco Plc and Sainsbury, will be led by executives who spent many years at pharmacy retailer Boots. Perhaps it’s replacing Asda as the training ground for top executives. It may be that working for Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina, who’s known for not suffering fools gladly, is the perfect preparation for taking on difficult challenges — even the brutal U.K. supermarket business.Roberts will need all of the skills he honed under the Italian dealmaker to keep Sainsbury on track. First of all, he must continue to battle the company’s other major rivals which make up the U.K.’s Big Four grocers — Tesco, Asda and Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc. And he must defend Sainsbury from the U.K. arms of the German discounters, Aldi and Lidl, which are increasingly forging into Sainsbury’s heartland in the south eastern U.K. Coupe did a good job cutting Sainsbury’s prices on everyday items. Roberts must continue this. For a while in 2018 and early 2019, after the damaging store-management overhaul, sales growth slipped behind that of rivals. Sainsbury was beginning to look like the sick grocer from which everyone else was seeking to steal market share. Its sales have recovered since, but Roberts must maintain that momentum.Secondly, Sainsbury must get Argos, the catalog retailer that Coupe acquired four years ago, back on track. The business, which sells everything from toys to tents, had a poor Christmas. In order to defend itself from the mighty Amazon.com Inc., it must better exploit its combination of online presence and bricks-and-mortar stores, as well as ensure its prices are right. On Tuesday, Sainsbury announced it would further integrate Argos into Sainsbury, axing hundreds of management jobs and cutting costs as it merges divisions including commercial retail and finance. This program must be managed without disruption.If all of this doesn’t go to plan, there is always the risk that Sainsbury, perennially tipped as a takeover target, could finally attract the attentions of a bidder. No one can fault Coupe for his bold decisions. In an environment where just keeping your head above water is hard enough, he was prepared to make daring moves. Unfortunately, they didn’t always pay off.To contact the author of this story: Andrea Felsted at afelsted@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Melissa Pozsgay at mpozsgay@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Andrea Felsted is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the consumer and retail industries. She previously worked at the Financial Times.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Benzinga
Is Blockchain Finally Ready For Prime Time?
Blockchain technology has had an interesting couple of years. The technology that underpins Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies has developed a complicated reputation. The technology certainly has its detractors, and it unfortunately has become synonymous with Bitcoin, which saw a rapid rise in value in 2017 only to come crashing down months later as the promised replacement for the world's global currencies failed to live up to expectations.
- Simply Wall St.
Is Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Trading At A 27% Discount?
Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by estimating the...
- Benzinga
Large Option Traders Betting On Amazon Over Walmart This Earnings Season
Last year was another difficult year for the retail sector, with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) continuing to put pressure on traditional brick-and-mortar department stores. At 10:50 a.m., a trader sold 930 Walmart call options with a $115 strike price expiring on Feb. 21 near the bid price at $2.971. At 10:57 a.m., a trader sold 809 Walmart call options with a $115 strike price expiring on Feb. 21 near the bid price at $3.021.
- American City Business Journals
S.F. marketing tech startup snags $210M funding round, unicorn status
Last year it doubled its headcount to reach 850 employees and expects more considerable growth at its San Francisco headquarters and New York office.
- Zacks
What's in Store for Tuesday Morning's (TUES) Q2 Earnings?
Higher freight costs and any deleverage in SG&A rate are likely to get reflected in Tuesday Morning's (TUES) margins in second-quarter fiscal 2020.
- Zacks
Amazon to Use Mom-and-Pop Shops as Delivery Points in India
Amazon (AMZN) teams up with mom-and-pop stores (kirana shops) in India in order to strengthen its delivery system in the country.
- Zacks
Things to Note Ahead of Tractor Supply's (TSCO) Q4 Earnings
Tractor Supply's (TSCO) fourth-quarter 2019 performance is likely to have benefited from ONETractor initiative, store growth efforts, inventory management and an improved loyalty program.
- Zacks
Sprouts Farmers Lags Industry Mark: Will Strategies Aid?
Sprouts Farmers (SFM) is witnessing higher expenses that are affecting the bottom line. However, initiatives like Fresh Item Management Technology and cost containment might aid performance.
- Reuters
Japan, U.S. lead survey's corporate climate change action 'A List'
BT , Danone, Microsoft and Sony are among 178 companies with top marks in the latest global ranking of transparency and action on climate change. Japan and the U.S. were the countries with the headquarters of the most 'A List' companies individually, while regionally, Europe as a bloc was home to the highest number. Companies are coming under pressure from customers and investors to step up efforts to help slow climate change in accordance with the 2015 Paris climate agreement to phase out greenhouse gas emissions by shifting away from fossil fuels.
- Barrons.com
A Big Contrarian Investor Bought Up Boeing Stock
Hexavest of Montreal, an affiliate of Eaton Vance, more than doubled its investment in the embattled aerospace giant Boeing. Hexavest also bought Home Depot, Intel, and Walmart stock in the fourth quarter.
- Barrons.com
Casper’s IPO Tells You Everything You Need to Know About Tech’s Promise and Its Troubles
The mattress industry, long known for its commodity products and ruthless competition, isn’t typically fodder for a Tech Trader column. Witness the rise of Casper Sleep, a mattress start-up valued at just over $1 billion in the private market.
- Barrons.com
Target Missed the Mark This Week. Buy the Dip.
Target (ticker: TGT) offered investors an update about holiday sales on Wednesday that underwhelmed Wall Street and sent the stock lower. Same-store sales rose just 1.4% in the fourth quarter, behind its own projections for 3% to 4% growth and analysts’ expectations for 3.7% growth. At these levels, the stock trades at 17 times earnings expectations for the next four quarters, below the S&P 500, which trades at 18.6 times.
- Zacks
Google Joins The Trillion-Dollar Club: Who's Next?
Google Joins The Trillion-Dollar Club: Who's Next?
- MarketWatch
This retailer’s IPO plan exposes a hard truth about privately owned companies
Grocery chain Albertsons is reportedly planning to go public — and this will be more than just a test of the IPO market’s health. Albertsons possible IPO will also be a test of claims that privately held companies perform better than publicly traded ones. Initial indications are that Albertsons will fail this test.
- InvestorPlace
3 Large Caps to Short
Many bullish investors might be saying to themselves, "so far, so good" for the month of January. Still, to ensure this isn't as good as it gets for your portfolio, let's dive into three large caps worth betting against in 2020.It has been a great start to the year. And it goes without saying most of us hope the party will motor on. The broad-based, large cap S&P 500 index is up about 3% in January and continues to hit record highs with more than two trading weeks left in the month. Who wouldn't want that type of performance after 2019's amazing 29% gain and one layered on top of this past decade's record breaking bull market?Only a bear I suppose.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsIncreasingly though, it looks like Goldilocks is at the doorstep. Aside from the amazing price feats in large caps -- the latest being Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) admittance into the $1 trillion club -- there are problems. There's a complacent market resting on historically rich multiples to be worried about. Investors might also be concerned about an overly accommodating Federal Reserve or a seemingly endless string of strong economic data. And that's not all. * 7 Earnings Reports to Watch Next Week Now and with this week's euphoric pricing of negotiated trade deals, investors have every right to be even more fearful. And one way to make sure today's market isn't as good as it gets for you is to have these three large cap stocks positioned as bearish allies in your portfolio. Large Caps to Short: Tesla (TSLA) Source: Charts by TradingViewMany bears have been on the wrong side of the street in Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). In fact, TSLA stock is officially the U.S. market's most heavily shorted equity with $14.5 billion in bets against shares. Right now, however, there is more to betting against TSLA stock without miserly joining the ranks of punished bears.Technically and as the weekly chart details, Tesla is in a strongly overbought position evidenced by its stochastics and price in relation to its upper Bollinger Band. Throw in a slightly extended 100% Fibonacci-based two-step pattern (AB = CD) completing in a large shooting star candlestick and TSLA looks ready for a bearish test drive.TSLA Stock Bear Strategy: I wouldn't recommend shorting Tesla. I'd advise gaining short delta exposure using a limited and reduced risk bear put spread. One on my radar is a well-positioned March $480 / $465 put spread. Apple (AAPL) Source: Charts by TradingViewAfter 2019's dazzling 89% gain in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), the AAPL stock chart indicates that it's well-positioned for a short.Technically, January's follow-through momentum has pushed Apple shares into a test of four well-extended layers of Fibonacci-based resistance. The tight completion area is comprised of three two-step patterns dating as far back as the 2009 financial crisis bottom and a 100% extension out of AAPL stock's 2018 - 2019 corrective base.AAPL Stock Bear Strategy: For this large cap stock I'd suggest waiting for a reversal candlestick to form on the weekly time frame before shorting shares. A stop-loss above the pattern high makes sense to minimize losses if shares buck the odds and continue to display over-the-top investor confidence. * The 10 Best Value Stocks to Own in 2020 On the downside, $250 - $265 is where taking initial profits looks promising. This area holds AAPL stock's 38% retracement level from last year's corrective low and prior trend-line resistance, which should act as support. Walmart (WMT) Source: Charts by TradingViewWalmart (NYSE:WMT) is the last of our large caps to short. The world's largest bricks and mortar retailer has shown itself to be an adaptive and resilient company in today's e-commerce market. But WMT stock's ability to rise to the occasion against the likes of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) appears to be priced in at this point in time.Technically, shares of Walmart have moved into layers of Fibonacci-based resistance. The price action isn't unlike that of TSLA stock or AAPL stock. And similar to the former, WMT stock even sports a monthly chart shooting star. But in this large-cap stock, the bearish November price pattern has been confirmed out-the-gate in 2020.WMT Stock Bear Strategy: With the topping pattern backed by an overbought and ill-positioned stochastics crossover, there's no time like the present to short WMT stock. Set a stop-loss above $125 to minimize potential damage off and on the WMT price chart. If shares begin to correct, taking initial profits near the pleasing to the eye $100 level and four-year uptrend support looks about right.Disclosure: Investment accounts under Christopher Tyler's management do not currently own positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. The information offered is based upon Christopher Tyler's observations and strictly intended for educational purposes only; the use of which is the responsibility of the individual. For additional market insights and related musings, follow Chris on Twitter @Options_CAT and StockTwits. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * The Top 5 Dow Jones Stocks to Buy for 2020 * 7 Fintech ETFs to Buy Now for Fabulous Financial Exposure * 3 Tech Stocks to Play Ahead of Earnings The post 3 Large Caps to Short appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Investor's Business Daily
Why The 1980s Walmart Stock Run Shows A High Stock Price, Breakouts Bespeak Quality
Don't be afraid of stocks considered "too high" in price. Learn how to invest successfully by instead focusing on fundamentals and chart action.
- Zacks
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: AMZN, WMT, EBAY and BABA
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: AMZN, WMT, EBAY and BABA
- InvestorPlace
Christmas Left Too Many Toys Behind in Target’s Aisles
A Christmas sales miss by Target (NYSE:TGT) put coal in many corporate stockings.Source: Robert Gregory Griffeth / Shutterstock.com The company said comparable-store sales grew just 1.4% during the Christmas season, with toy sales flat and electronics down 6%. The retailer maintained its earnings guidance.Shares fell anyway, by nearly $9 or 7%. Target stock opened Jan. 17 below $117, with a market capitalization of about $59 billion.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsTarget wasn't the only stock traders tossed aside. Toy makers in particular were hammered, although both Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) and Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT) later recovered. Morgan Stanley even warned about mighty Walmart (NYSE:WMT), although not for the reason I had.Should Target shareholders panic and run for the exits? Or is this a buying opportunity? What's Going On?Shareholders have been taking profits on Target since early December, but little has changed.The company's strategy of building high-quality store brands continues to work, with rivals like Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) being downgraded. * 7 Small-Cap Stocks That Are Not Worth a Second Glance The strategy is based on the realization that just putting stuff on sale no longer works. But Target can't make iPhones or PCs. Electronics was the department that took the hardest hit, and it was the most popular category with children.Unable to throw Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) under the bus because of the Target miss, analysts decided to toss the toy makers. They had been expecting better results after the Toys "R" Us bankruptcy, they didn't pay attention when toy makers themselves trimmed their lines and they ignored an Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) announcement that its toy sales were strong. What's the Problem?Many analysts gave Target a mark of "A" for its performance during the holiday season, noting that online sales were up 19%.But there is a problem. Target has become known as a soft goods retailer. People go to Target for clothes.This means there are Target brands that may not be performing, like Opalhouse, Project 62 and Room Essentials. The company's release on Christmas said its home goods, as well as toy sales, were flat. Target now has 41 such brands, in clothes, food, pet supplies and personal care. It also has 10 "exclusive brands" for which it's the only outlet, including two wine brands.There are two ways to look at this. The glass half-full crowd will say that Target has gotten women, especially high-income women, into the store. The glass half-empty crowd will complain that it's not getting enough of their money.For most consumers there are different kinds of shopping. There's clothes shopping, which is seasonal, personal and occasional. Target is doing great there. Then there's weekly shopping, the daily grind of groceries and related products, of filling out a list. This is where Target remains weak. Not all Target stores have grocery departments, and those that do have limited choices. Target's not a food store, in the way Kroger (NYSE:KR), Walmart or even Costco (NASDAQ:COST) are food stores. The Bottom Line on Target StockTarget CEO Brian Cornell is in the position of a football coach who has had a great season and now sees top assistants being poached by losing teams. An example is former chief merchandising officer Mark Tritton, hired away by Bed, Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY).Cornell is building a new team and must develop new ideas to keep Target growing. It's not about rebuilding but reloading. Investors want to see whether Target can defend its new success against its own people, and how it will expand the beachhead it has established.With a dividend yield now over 2.2%, and a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.7, Target stock is fully priced, but its weakness makes it a good speculation for income investors seeking long-term defensive plays.Dana Blankenhorn is a financial and technology journalist. His latest book is Technology's Big Bang: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow with Moore's Law, essays on technology available at the Amazon Kindle store. Write him at danablankenhorn@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @danablankenhorn. As of this writing he owned shares in AAPL, AMZN and BBBY. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * The Top 5 Dow Jones Stocks to Buy for 2020 * 7 Fintech ETFs to Buy Now for Fabulous Financial Exposure * 3 Tech Stocks to Play Ahead of Earnings The post Christmas Left Too Many Toys Behind in Target's Aisles appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Zacks
Amazon to Create 1 Million Jobs in India, Expand Footprint
Amazon (AMZN) intends to create 1 million jobs in India and bolster its talent pool.
- Bloomberg
The Sitcom That Gets America's Working Class
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Sitcoms are an underrated way of portraying the economic challenges faced by average people. “Atlanta” shows the travails of working-class black Americans navigating a world of hassle, insecurity and poverty. The Canadian program “Kim’s Convenience” depicts immigrant small-business owners and their second-generation children off to a rocky start on their rise into the middle class. Broad economic trends form the backdrop to both of shows -- the loss of dependable manufacturing jobs, the geographic concentration of economic opportunity, immigration, prejudice and social mobility. But perhaps no show captures the reality of the modern American workplace as well as NBC’s “Superstore.”The premise of “Superstore” is charmingly simple -- the misadventures of the employees of a big-box discount store called Cloud 9 (a fictional analog of Walmart). They represent a diverse cross-section of the American populace: young, old, black, white, Asian, Hispanic. One is disabled, one is an unauthorized immigrant, one is homeless, another is a teenage mom. They’re not the burly hard-hat-wearing men that one might associate with the term “working class.” But perhaps that stereotype ought to change because retail workers have outnumbered manufacturing workers in the U.S. since 2003:The Cloud 9 workers are both benefiting from and suffering from the big change that U.S. retail has undergone in recent decades as local, family-owned stores were replaced by national chains. Between 1948 and 1997, the share of single-establishment retail companies fell from about 70% to less than 40%.That shift has raised efficiency, but often at the expense of workers. Bargaining between employees and managers that might have been done face-to-face at a mom-and-pop is done at arm’s length behind a protective veil of corporate policy. When a manager in “Superstore” dares to violate corporate policy and gives a new mother paid time off, he is promptly fired by his supervisors. This sort of faceless, pitiless way of dealing with employees reduces their power, allowing companies to squeeze them in a thousand small ways. It also probably makes the average store a colder and more forbidding work environment.Another way retail companies squeeze their employees is with irregular scheduling. The workers in “Superstore,” like many real workers, have little assurance that they will be given enough hours to earn enough to live on. But when they do get lots of hours, they often find themselves working unpaid overtime. This is technically illegal, but employers have many ways of getting around the rules.The obvious way to fight back against corporate exploitation would be to form a union. A number of “Superstore” plots revolve around efforts to do exactly this. But it’s an uphill struggle for several reasons. First, retail jobs don’t require years of training to master, and striking workers can be replaced relatively easily. Second, a unionized store will be at a competitive disadvantage versus nonunion competitors, which could lead to job losses or even a shutdown. And third, big chain companies are very skilled at dissuading workers from voting to unionize.These problems could be solved by government policy. If the U.S. government mandated that all the retail workers in a given region be represented by a single union -- a policy known as sectoral bargaining -- it would mean one less reason for employers to fear unions because all stores would be competing on a level playing field. Extending union agreements to nonunionized workers would be a way to rapidly restore labor’s power without the cumbersome process of voting in unions everywhere. These fixes would require an extensive rewrite of U.S. labor law, but it might be a way to make retail work as good as the manufacturing jobs of the past.Regulation can also help. Restricting irregular scheduling doesn’t just improve workers’ quality of life, it boosts productivity. Tightening up the rules regarding unpaid overtime and ensuring adequate parental leave should also be a priority.Even sectoral bargaining and regulation, of course, won’t protect retail workers from the onslaught of technology. Walmart’s most formidable competition comes from Amazon.com Inc., which has much lower overhead in terms of land and personnel. If unions force physical stores to raise wages so much that consumer prices start going up, customers could have even more incentive to shop at the online giant, putting stores out of business. Plenty of chain stores have closed in recent years amid what some refer to as the retail apocalypse and retail employment is declining as a share of the population, much as manufacturing did:Presumably, sectoral unions would be smart enough to hold down wages to fend off the threat, but this means less money in workers’ pockets.So in addition to retail workers’ trials and tribulations, “Superstore” shows a way of life in decline. No matter what happens with labor laws, stores will keep closing if online retail becomes cheaper than it already is. In that case, the U.S. economy will simply have to find something else for all those working-class people to do.To contact the author of this story: Noah Smith at nsmith150@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Greiff at jgreiff@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Noah Smith is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University, and he blogs at Noahpinion.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
